Zombie Trouble In Big Apple, New York
by RailgunKizami
Summary: In the United States of America, New York, at Swift's International School, a private, expensive school in Central Manhattan, the main protagonist of this story who introduces a plague to America is known as Gerard, a seventeen year old junior who, with his friends, need to find a way to survive and uphold humanity again. Reports are that Washington D.C. is safe.
1. My name is Gerard

**Chapter One  
Hi, guys! This is my second zombie fanfiction - I was out of ideas for the other story, Apocalypso, and Monochrome. If you've read the synopsis of my story you should already know who is the main protagonist and where is this particular high school of the dead located.**

 **I'd sincerely appreciate reviews, follows, and favorites! Criticism is greatly accepted as well. Feel free to correct any spelling mistakes. I take great pride in my writing and I want to improve. Well, read on!**

Short pants of breath escaped from my chapped lips as I desperately ran for the apartment door, never stopping to look behind me, for if I did, I would be dead meat – literally. I was running away from a _huge_ crowd of zombies that never tired, never stopped, and never gave up chasing their lone, single prey – me.

My pace started slowing down as my stamina depleted, having run from the apartment entrance up the stairs to the ninth floor. The undead limped and staggered pretty quickly for something, well, dead, and shambled their way up the stairs, hot in pursuit for my live flesh.

I skidded unsteadily on the dry unclean carpet that had not been vacuumed since the start of the man-eating apocalypse, meaning a lot of dried blood caked within the furry skin of the carpet, and the stench of rotten flesh hung in the thin, air-conditioned air.

The apartment room was my only chance. Owned by my friend, a gun nut, I could grab some artillery and mow down the incoming hordes of dead with a machine gun. The problem was, the zombies were catching up, and even though I was pretty close to the apartment room, I was half sure I was toast before I could reach the door.

You see, the thing is – zombies stagger and sort of sprint in my world; welcome to my lovely paradise of blood and guts. All my life I've dreamed of a zombie apocalypse to happen and did not expect to survive and expected zombies to be slow, dumb bastards that only knew how to stumble slowly and bite and chew.

I slammed into a short, stout figure with meaty arms and a large belly opened up with entrails hanging loosely at the front and the sides of her shirt. Her ghostly white, lifeless eyes bored upon me as her surprisingly strong arms pinned me down, her ghastly teeth dawning closer to my exposed neck. I pushed her back with my effort, but it would only be a matter of time before I drained up all of my strength and became zombie fodder.

My heart felt like it was about to burst. Every molecule of my strength was focused to keeping this fat zombie away from biting a chunk of my flesh. My eyes darted from left to right, and I saw the group of zombies I was trying to run away from clamor in hunger as they surged forward like a pack of wolves, coming ever closer, ever closer…

In a last burst of strength, I managed to shove the obese zombie a few feet back, and hastily got back up to my feet for another round of sprinting. But as I propelled myself forth, the obese zombie, though too heavy to rise, had its meaty hand gripping my left leg tightly, causing me to lose my balance.

I fell onto the blood-soaked carpet with a heavy thud, shooting arcs of pain up my face and from a new, freshly formed scrape on my cheek. Tell you the truth; I was already at my wit's end. I felt like giving up, after all there was nothing left for me in this dead world anymore. The infected were coming, let them come; I was already dead since the apocalypse started anyway. Searing pain stabbed my neck in the form of rotted teeth, and blood poured like a waterfall from the torn veins and arteries.

My vision darkened, and the pain of other parts of my body being torn apart enveloped me, and I closed my eyes…

 _RINGGGGG!_

My eyes blearily opened as my vision came into focus. I was sleeping with my face plastered on the plastic table, of moderate quality. I had been listening to a boring lesson in Biology Class on why zombies were pure fiction and would never exist in our modern world, and had dozed off, which explained the zombie dream. Luckily, the teacher, Miss Amy, did not notice that I had been sleeping in her class, and I had successfully been rejuvenated by the one hour nap without any detention, as the bell had rung. It was lunch time.

You see, studying at an extremely expensive school known as Swift's International did not necessarily mean high quality equipment, fun lessons et cetera. By the way, my name's Gerard Olive, and I'm a relatively normal kid in my current junior year in high school if you exclude the fact that I get weird dreams like the zombie one quite frequently. If I had to describe myself to others, I'd say I was a sixteen year old junior turning seventeen in late November, and surprise everyone with my body statistics. For instance, I'm a little over six-foot-one, and I weigh less than a hundred and twenty pounds. Light, isn't it? In fact, I'm sick of people telling me to eat more when one of my best friends Ethan Tanner has seen me devour a whole conveyor belt of sushi at a restaurant before, earning lots of looks from other families and friends trying to enjoy their meal.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out of the Biology classroom with Niqulos Tudline, an English guy, also a part of my best friends group. My lean physique contrasted with his broad shoulders and buff arms and people would wonder why me and him were best friends, as one looked to be an average kid and the other a sporty kid. Sadly, most rich kids in Swift's International School were judgmental and rather self-obsessed with themselves.

As we dropped our bags onto the cold marble flooring of our math class, we made a beeline for the canteen, which was already teeming with kids from the ages of freshmen to seniors. I could hardly see over the crowd at the menu for today's grub; many seniors above five-ten were blocking me and Niq. While the queue slowly moved along, I told Niq about my latest dream in Bio class; he sat next to me but did not wake me up as he was also sleeping.

"Whoa, Gerard, the way you describe those zombies… I'm wondering why the fuck don't you take Literature." Niqulos exclaimed as we got closer to the food counter. I shrugged, saying that the stress of an added subject would cause my grades to drop; my results weren't very high these days and I was aiming for a scholarship to ease my dad's burden of working too much.

"Besides," I added, "Literature, as I've heard, it's very boring with all the Shakespeare shit." I turned to the lunch lady whom, as usual, was wearing a mask of stone again. She never smiled once, not even the first day of school when Ethan and I had approached her counter. "I'll have the fish and chips, please."

After tendering my fiver, and neglecting to collect the change (it was just a nickel), I grabbed my plate and armed myself with a knife and a fork, prepared to slice the fried dory fillet apart so as to stuff it in my mouth. "I'll have whatever he's having," Niq said, referring to me, and once both of us had our sides of fish and chips we started looking for an empty table. "Over here!" A rough voice with the South American accent rang out, causing me and Niqulos to walk over to where Juan Carlos Perez sat with Aladdin (whose real name was Alideen), and Ethan.

Juan was a rather tall Mexican dude, with tanned muscular arms that attracted lots of girls, but his nose was flat like a pancake, spoiling his features. Aladdin was of slightly above average height, an Indian but following the culture of a Muslim. He never really told us off when we ate pork in front of him, but instead accepted it, as it was not Malaysia – it was the Big Apple, New York. Ethan was a boy of slightly above average height as well, his dad was Caucasian American, while his mom was African American, and though not exactly fat, Ethan was slightly stout.

"So, how was Biology class, Gerard, Niqulos?" Juan asked in a light tone, while taking a large bite out of his pepperoni pizza slice. "Sam Yee told me he saw you guys taking a nap." As if on cue, Sam Yee approached our almost-full table with Gordon Ng. Sam was a rather tall Northern Chinese, wearing rectangular glasses with a black frame and red colored sides. He always walked in a funny fashion, hunching a lot, and never failing to crack the rest of our group up with his behavior. Gordon was a boy of slightly below average height, a Southern Chinese, wearing glasses similar to Sam's except it was slightly bigger. He had a darker complexion compared to the rest of us, except Aladdin and Ethan, and one side of his face was darker than the other, presumably from birth. Gordon and Sam were skinny, though Gordon was skinnier than me and Sam was slightly heavier.

We chatted a bit about how boring school was; a bunch of misfits we were, not standing out and arrogant like the superstar jocks, not belonging to the huge band of nerds that all sat in one place, and just being us. Niqulos and I usually ate the fish and fries or sometimes even fried chicken, while the rest of the group ate a variety of pizza, sushi, steak, lamb chop et cetera. Rarely pork, so as not to offend our Muslim friend Aladdin. Ethan ate extremely little yet was a bit stout.

I told them about the zombie dream, Niq adding some extra facts along the way. Ethan had heard a similar story from me before, as we were friends longer than the rest of them. Everyone listened attentively as my story drifted to the part where I was devoured alive; my nerves tingling as I grimly remembered the pain that flooded through my neck. It was silent in our table while the drone of the other kids floated across the cafeteria. Finally, Aladdin spoke up. "Well, it's just a dream, right?"

I scratched my head nervously, while Sam Yee just continued munching his steak. Ethan cleared his throat. "So, what's after lunch?" Juan broke the silence. "I think its sports," Gordon spoke up between bites of lamb. Sports at our school depended on which sport we were having; the sport rotated every five weeks, so we had just completed badminton, and were currently moving on to basketball. A word of advice if you see me – do _not_ ask me whether I play basketball or not, or whether I'm good at it. It gets annoying after a while.

Lunch was finished, silence swept over the canteen as the last of us exited the cafeteria; some groaning at the prospect of basketball while some smirking, eager to pulverize the weaklings, and cracking their knuckles for the umpteenth time. The kid that played basketball best was Juan, who had an advantageous reach with his unbelievably long arms. He was also in the school team, out of around three hundred students in our age group – now that is impressive. Everyone chattered while the teacher, Mr. Pam, took the attendance.

Mr. Pam assigned us to teams of five according to our skill level in basketball. The pros all grouped up in one big huddle, eyeing each other like slaughter time; the average stood dumbfounded, most of their friends either in the pros or the weaker players, while the weaker players groaned inwardly and chatted about how much they wanted to skip sports. Needless to say, Juan was with the pros, Sam Yee was with the normal players, and the rest of us were grouped together with the bad players. We looked out of place; tall kids who stood amongst a bunch of short people who sucked at basketball. I hated being with the weaker players sometimes, as there was this short and annoying kid – his name was Sam Long, a Caucasian-American kid who manipulated his friends and took advantage of others. He and I have shared some bad history together, involving a girl that he 'loved' and I liked. After I started to avoid him when his true colors were shown clearly, he spread rumors about me; like how I was a pervert, and antisocial. The first one was fine, as I did not take the word pervert seriously (we're all teenagers for god's sake), but the second one pissed me off. If anything, he was the antisocial one, knocking his friends off the ladder to try and climb the social ladder but failing. All of my true friends avoid him as well, as they know him as much as I do.

The ball was passed to me, and I dribbled it in rhythm, looking up to a skinny, gawky boy blocking me – Shaun Teak. He was an arrogant guy who could be fun for a laugh sometimes but held too much pride; he was a really rich guy who had a rather snobbish attitude and a sensitive exterior. However, he was tall – taller than me. "Ethan, catch!" I tossed the ball to Ethan while Niqulos tried to intercept the path of the ball, but Ethan caught it with ease, readying for a two-point shot. However, Sam Long had deliberately knocked into him on purpose, sending him off-balance and the basketball flying free in the air. Sam Long and his bunch of shorter friends were laughing at Ethan, who could barely contain his rage. Taking the opportunity to score a point, I snagged the moving ball on the ground and shot it in, earning back my best friend's pride.

"Well, that was a nice move, Samuel," I chuckled mockingly as I clutched the ball with both hands. Niqulos hid a smile, Gordon smirked lightly, and Aladdin full out exploded with laughter. Eventually, he stopped shrieking with giggles after we all stared at him like he was crazy, and then the game continued. We ended the game with our team leading by a couple of points, causing me, Ethan, Aladdin, Gordon and some random guy called Sampson to cheer. We ended the day thinking about all these events, and soon we all returned to our respective homes, bidding each other farewell until the next day.

My feet came into contact with the cool, smooth marble tiles that made up the flooring of my house. Something was cooking in the kitchen, something that gave my stomach growl. I dumped my bag on the floor and showered, washing the sweat off my body, and went into the dining room to find my dad and my mom eating instant noodles, my brother's and my seat vacant. I greeted them, and hungrily wolfed down the instant noodles as fast as it was cooked – roughly two minutes. "So, how was school?" My dad asked me, brandishing a newspaper as he set it down on the birch table. "Same old, same old," I replied. "How was work?" He gave me a cheeky grin and answered, "Same old, same old." Then his expression turned serious, like he was going to say something deadpanned. "There's some sort of sickness happening in the heart of Hudson, hopefully it doesn't spread to our area here in Manhattan, but the thing is – I get to skip working tomorrow!" That was cool, maybe we could all go for bowling – that was if my school allowed me to take leave too.

After dinner, I flipped about the channels on TV, all of them news, even the cartoons and TV series were covered up by urgent news. The news reporter was talking about the new virus that started infecting the population of Hudson, and that there was a high chance of spreading to the other areas of New York and the rest of America. Schools in Manhattan that wished to continue giving their students education could carry on with lessons, while all schools in Hudson were closed. There was footage of people chasing other people, like catch. It seemed like the new virus was all about rabies or something. Sighing, I switched off the TV and climbed up the staircase to my room, which was decorated with posters of guns and food. It was still a little early to sleep at eight-thirty, but I was tired after basketball and wanted to rest.

 **That's the ending for the first chapter. Next story gets a bit more... dead...**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	2. Zombies!

**Chapter 2  
Hey guys, the second chapter is out, I got a B for my biology assessment, everything's all cool. This story gets a bit more quick-paced, you might find it interesting, you might not. Give me comments and reviews about my writing style, as I am a fourteen and a half year old passionate writer who strives to get at least an A for my English writing.**

The next morning, I got up and yawned, dragging my sodden feet to the bathroom to brush my teeth, and lazily trudged down the stairs to grab a quick breakfast of bacon and pancakes. I wolfed them all down like it was going to be the last day I tasted the food; my family staring at me with a strange expression as I hastily gobbled the food up, grabbing my bag and dashing out to the route to school.

I noticed that many shops were closed today, except the convenience stores and pharmacies, and that lots of people were sporting red-rimmed bandages on their wrist or shoulder or leg. The sound of coughing permeated the air, and polluted the environment, giving me an idea – perhaps school was closed. I entered the ivory steel gates of Swift's International School, the logo emblazoned upon the walls of the entrance. People were wearing face masks, probably trying to prevent themselves from getting a possible airborne virus. Several students were coughing slightly as well, similar to the ones I saw at the street. Could it be that the virus had already reached Manhattan?

"Yo, bro, you heard the news?" Niqulos bumped my shoulder playfully, causing me to glare at him. "Who hasn't?" I rolled my eyes, as we walked to our classes, Ethan and Gordon joining us on the way.

When Ethan saw me, he greeted me and told us a theory about how my dream could be related to the virus splattered all over the news. We all had a good laugh at his serious face, but to tell you the truth; I was feeling rather edgy at the possibility of a zombie pandemic. I mean, zombies couldn't possibly ever exist, could they?

Apparently our teacher for Chemistry class was absent and sick, and so was about a quarter of the teachers in our school. Students that were sick sported panda eyes and bandages wrapped all on their arms, blood seeping a bit through the thin cotton gauze. In Chemistry, it was just Gordon, Juan and I, and there was a replacement teacher in front. I made a risky decision so bold I could've gotten my phone confiscated and probably gotten suspended has this not been a zombie pandemic. The blood on the bandages tied on the infected confirmed my suspicions, and I hastily texted the rest of the group to stray away from class to the cafeteria.

Gordon and Juan sat next to me; Gordon was ready and willing to follow my instructions for he was also rather frightened by the prospect of an outbreak here in our school. Juan, however, did not believe in the urban legends of zombies and rarely played any games, so he told us to move along, and that he'd catch up soon if there really were zombies. Quietly, Gordon and I sneaked out of Chemistry class, without the teacher and any of the students noticing; Juan distracting them at the front with some content displayed on the screen.

"Gerard, what's the plan, man? Why the cafeteria?" Gordon asked as we plowed our way stealthily to the direction of the canteen.

"Because, most people would not think to get to the cafeteria, and there are lots of supplies like food and drink." I responded, feeling my pants pocket vibrate, signaling the rest of the group's reply. Whipping my phone out, I read the responses.

Alideen: _Wat? Zombie outbreak? U srs or not? Kk anyways there's nothing to do in Chem._

Ethan: _I'll be there asap, try not to make a scene._

Niqulos: _I'm about to go with Ethan and Alideen; to the canteen you say?_

Samuel: _The fk bro wat r u talking?_

Hastily, I typed: _No time, be there ASAP, Samuel! This is serious, I saw most of the infected with bandages wrapped on their limbs, so if you don't want to be infected, now's a good time as any!_

I put my phone back into my pocket, and led Gordon to a hidden spot just outside the cafeteria. There was a speaker directly above us, so we could get ahold of any announcements in case of any emergencies. I inhaled a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, my hand clammy with pale sweat already from the warm summer weather.

As I waited for the others to arrive, I discussed with Gordon about what weapons we should be armed with, in the case of a sudden attack.

"They have knives in the kitchen," Gordon suggested, adding, "Also the gym has badminton and tennis rackets and baseball bats." I nodded, agreeing with his ideas. But the gym was usually locked, unless there was a sports lesson ongoing.

We had waited for what seemed like an eternity for the rest to arrive, Niqulos and Ethan arriving first. We were still waiting for Samuel and Alideen, and I truly wasn't sure whether Juan would be coming with us or not.

Never in my life had I experienced the feeling of anxiety to a whole new level; this was literally life and death here. If I was wrong, wrong about everything – the zombies, the infection – we would all be in deep shit.

I stretched my gangly frame, feeling some of my smaller bones crack as I moved them, and waited. Finally, Ethan spoke up.

"I've got to warn my family. In case of anything that's gonna happen to me, I've got to tell them what we're doing and where we are." He said with a set expression on his leather-brown face. Niqulos nodded, agreeing with him, and pretty soon all of us were leaving voice messages for the rest of our family.

Gordon told them about our plan, the one where we were going to the gym for some melee weapons to prepare ourselves for combatting the undead. I signaled for the group to stay back while I peered inside the glass doors leading to the gym. Empty. That was good, meaning that we could get to the gym equipment without much problem. Now there was only the unlikely possibility that the door to the equipment storage was locked.

Quietly, I pulled open the smooth glass door, beckoning to the rest of the group to follow me. Together we sneaked into the gymnasium and when we reached the equipment storage room, Gordon furiously jiggled the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge.

"What now?" He asked, wiping sweat off his brow.

I looked about, trying to look for something that could help us open the door. My eyes settled upon a piece of metal, and Niqulos went over to retrieve it. Alideen and Samuel had not reached still, invoking a sense of confusion from us – what could have possibly detained them?

Niqulos had already set about to forcing the door open; Ethan and Gordon taking turns to pry the door open. I was the lookout for potential roaming infected and teachers, both of which were equally disastrous. The four of us were crouched at the corner, trying to pull open the heavy spruce door and it was working; splinters of wood were tearing from the side and soon we would be able to unlock it.

 _CLANG_

Ethan had accidentally dropped the piece of the metal due to the slipperiness of Niqulos', Gordon's, and his sweat. The sound echoed about the gymnasium, which was bad news for us since the gym was right next to the teacher's staff room. There was bound to be some teacher looking for us soon, so I told them all to hide, as I pressed myself flat on the ground.

Sure enough, the door leading from the staff room to the gymnasium swung open, revealing a tall, stout middle-aged teacher called Mr. Richard. Almost everyone in my grade called him Mister Dick, and he lived up to his name – he was an infamous pot-bellied man who shamelessly flirted with the girls and deducted grades whenever he felt like it. But the real reason why everyone _really_ hated him was because he had extremely sharp senses; vision, hearing, smell, you name it. He could spot what would seem to most students could not observe, hear even the slightest bit of noise – that's why he came into the gymnasium, and smell the food from the canteen from the classroom. Maybe I exaggerated on the last bit, but the rest are true. Many kids have lost their phones and valuables due to this man, who was sharp enough to tell whether who was paying attention and who wasn't.

"Is anyone here?" His rough, raspy, burly voice echoed about the gymnasium, reverberating up my eardrums. I remained crouched on the floor, breathing heavily, praying that I would not be noticed. In the corner of my eye I could see Ethan hiding behind a half-meter wood bench; hard to spot but you'd never know whether Mr. Dick could see him or not. Niqulos did the same as me, pressed down hard on the floor five feet apart from me, and Gordon leaned against a side of the wall that was out of Mr. Dick's vision.

My throat itched, notifying my brain that it needed to cough. _No, not now!_ I pleaded desperately, trying to fight the painful cough that would be very hard to stifle; if successful, Mr. Dick could still have heard it – after all the gym was quiet.

But when nature wills you to do the call of duty, I guess there's no fighting it.

 _COUGH_

All eyes in the gymnasium turned towards me; Ethan shot a glare at me, Niqulos cursing, Gordon groaning, and Mr. Dick was alerted of the situation we were in. In a few strides, the pudgy teacher had arrived at my hiding spot, grabbing my uniform and hissing, "Caught you! Now, are the rest of you going to simply watch your friend here getting sent to the detention room or are you all going like a group?" His eyes scanned around the gym, spotting my friends' hiding spots.

Almost immediately, the rest of my squad stood up slowly, their eyes transfixed at me; some defeated, some angry, and some calm.

Mr. Dick led the way to the staff room, and we meekly followed, while the rest of the group talked to me. "Why the fuck did you cough?!" Ethan growled angrily, heat steaming from his head. Niqulos had to hold him back to refrain from punching me. I let loose a sigh as we walked on, replying, "A cough is a cough. Who knows? Maybe Mr. Dick will be the first to get eaten."

Gordon's defeated expression chilled me; it was seriously creepy. "For all we know, there is no zombie apocalypse and our future will be blacklisted for skipping class. I really need a scholarship, you know that? My family is not that rich. I come to this school because my parents want the best for my education. We're Chinese Asian you know?" I patted his back reassuringly. "No worries, Mr. Dick will get eaten."

Upon saying that, Mr. Dick turned about and gripped my shirt, hard, his porky eyes intense and glaring upon my own brown eyes, which were currently angry. However, I had to look up slightly at the teacher, him being a couple of inches taller than me, who forcefully pressed me up against the corridor wall.

"You're lucky we're still in school," he hissed, glancing around at Ethan, Gordon, and Niqulos. "Or else I'd be caving your head in with this fat fist here." He gestured at his meaty knuckles, which looked threateningly dangerous in my position.

I gulped down the accumulative saliva in my mouth, and mumbled an apology, all the time my eyes and expression were a mix of fear and anger. He was such a bad teacher and yet he did not know that. I really wished that my prediction of a zombie apocalypse was correct now.

There was a janitor holding a broom up ahead, moving slowly with a limp. This was an autistic pretty lady who was efficient at her job – sweeping. However, she was mute, and she seemed rather deaf so she couldn't acknowledge anyone most of the time. She could read, though.

Today the janitor seemed tired; her broom leaning against a side of the corridor, her hair askew and her eyes glazed, like they were tired. She was lethargically moving the broom back and forth, and seeing his opportunity; Mr. Dick approached the woman and grabbed the broom with a deft twist of hand, instantly forgetting about the kids he had arrested. He kindly offered to help her and started sweeping.

As if she did not understand, the janitor slowly approached him with her arms outstretched, like she wanted the broom back. I remembered that she valued her broom like a first-born child, and refused to let any student or teacher touch it.

Thinking he would get a peck on the cheek as a reward for his 'gracious' offer, Mr. Dick exposed his fleshy cheek with a mischievous smirk plastered on his face, while the janitor swayed closer.

Then I noticed something horribly wrong – bubbling saliva gurgled from the janitor's chapped, pale lips, and a ghostly, milky white in her eyes. She suddenly surged forward with such speed and strength none in the school had ever seen before, and within a split second she was face to face with Mr. Dick; her mouth widened and ready to bite.

Blood sprayed from the asshole of a teacher's plump cheek like a cascading waterfall; dripping onto the floor like a spoiled water faucet that could never stop. The janitor ripped the whole chunk of flesh free, chewing on it like a convict escaped from prison that hadn't eaten for multiple days.

Mr. Dick roared in agony, desperately cupping at his cheek in an attempt to reduce the blood flow, but before he could recover from his shock, the zombie janitor lunged upon him and pinned him down, gnawing on his shoulder. I returned to my senses, and saw that the rest of my friends were in a state of fear. "Come on, guys!" My friends turned to the sound of my voice, nodding as we started to jog back to the gymnasium.

"Don't leave me here, you assho – _ARGHHH_!" The pot-bellied teacher was interrupted in mid-sentence as the undead janitor started to tear at his stomach; long and thin intestines spilled out, all bloodied and disgusting. Resisting the urge to vomit, I sprinted up ahead while my friends followed from behind, both happy that the worm of a teacher was killed but genuinely afraid about what would happen next.

The agonizing screams screeched to a halt, giving way to dead silence that filled the already silent air. Seizing the metal piece that I had accidentally dropped from before, I pulled at the small gap between the storage equipment doors in an attempt for it to give way. This time, the door snapped like a twig, sending splinters flying everywhere; one scraped my hand and I felt a sharp sting flood my mind. Wasting no time, my friends and I charged inside the sports room and grabbed whatever sports equipment we could find that looked deadly enough to knock over some heads.

"Alright, what now?" Niqulos asked as we all caught our breath leaning against the wall of the gymnasium.

I thought a moment. _If the outbreak was just starting now, with at least dozens of high school students infected by the disease, then the school would be overrun in less than half an hour. Most of the time, in a panic, kids would run as fast as possible, shoving past crowds of people, dying like flies if they run into zombies. Those lucky enough to survive committed suicide due to mental trauma, got bitten unexpectedly, or tried their hardest to survive._

"Guys, we're going to need to make our way to the convenience store just a couple of blocks away from here. We're gonna have to fight our way out of this school if we have to. Forget the canteen," I added, eyeing my friends. "It's possible some of the canteen vendors have been infected already and we might be chow. Capiche?" My group nodded. "Good." I said.

Hefting a heavy aluminum baseball bat between my hands, we slowly inched outside the gymnasium, but suddenly my ears were interrupted by an alarm signaling trouble within the school; the piercing sound causing me to drop my melee weapon on the floor. I clasped my ears from the sound emitting from a speaker near the entrance of the gym; where we stood. The ringing noise soon cleared out to be an announcement.

 _"St-students of Swift's International School, I regret to i-inform you about this. I-I believe that there are rabid people biting other teachers and students. P-please evacuate quietly and follow all instructions that your teacher give you, and – STOPP! HELPP ME!"_

Normally, in our school, no matter how far you were from the classrooms, you could still always hear the buzz of kids and teachers talking. But now, as the announcement rang out and ended with a scream, the compound was deathly silent. I picked up my metal bat, recovered my wits and pulled my friends along; we were headed to the convenience store.

Then, the noisy buzz returned into the air, more ferocious than ever, and I could imagine the chaos that unraveled inside the studying block and administration block.

Picking up the pace, I led the way, followed by Niqulos and Gordon. Ethan lagged slightly behind, him being the slowest of the lot. I turned to the left sharply, walking straight out of the studying block, and ran into one of my closer friends but not in my group; Bill Marcus. He stood at the same height as me, built solidly but in no way extremely muscular, of Native-American descent. He was with his girlfriend, Chanel Gene and both of them had panicked expressions on their faces.

As soon as Bill saw me, his expression faded into relief, as if he was expecting one of those things. He was clutching a small pocket knife smeared with blood. "Good to see you, man," he greeted as we slapped hands. Bill nodded at Ethan, who returned the gesture. "Niqulos, Gordon." He also greeted the other two of my group.

"Where are you guys headed to?" Chanel asked us. "The convenience store," I replied, and then something I should have remembered hit me like a wave. Juan, Samuel and Alideen were still inside the studying block! I turned to my friends. "Guys, I forgot that Juan, Samuel and Alideen are still inside the block!"

"But what can you do about it?" Gordon asked as he nervously watched our surroundings, ready to make a break for it if he spotted any infected. I flashed a grin to my friends. "Watch me." I took off from my friends in a quick sprint, slowly accelerating up to my maximum speed as I passed various classes. Several screams resounded from the classrooms that I passed, but I ignored them, instead focused on reaching my chemistry class.

When I reached the chemistry classroom, I swung the door open with all force I had and saw the classroom smeared with puddles of blood; their sources revealed dead on the floor, some writhing about – they were zombies. Many were missing limbs and most had their guts spilled. I recognized one of their faces as Alideen, and felt a wave of sadness flood inside my system. However, there was no time to think about all these. I still had to find Juan and Samuel.

Bolting out of the bloody chemistry class and dodging the infected looming about in the hallways, I turned the corner and bumped into something moving equally as fast, causing me to drop the metal bat with a loud clang that probably alerted many of the zombies in our area to approach us – that was if they weren't already feasting upon something. I hefted the aluminum bat, prepared to knock dead my attacker and found that I wasn't looking at a zombie, but a freshman girl. She had wavy short hair that fell just below her chin and was wearing the standard female uniform – except that she had a tag that said freshman, I had one that said junior. She did not appear to be bitten anywhere, so I offered her a hand to stand up.

"T-thanks, my name is –" the freshman started, but I tugged at her hand.

"There's no time for introductions, man, follow me if you want to survive; I'm looking for my friends!" I pulled her along as she struggled to match my pace. We darted from classroom to classroom and I noticed that a wave of zombies were staggering slowly toward us. My stamina was depleting and I was almost out of breath, but I kept on for my own sake.

At last, we searched the whole studying block, and not a trace of Juan and Samuel was found. Alideen's death would be hard to tell Ethan – he was one of Ethan's best friends. The freshman girl was in a slightly better shape than I was so she wasn't panting and sweating bullets like me. We made our way back to where I started, but none of my friends were to be seen. However, blood-stains coated the ground like a trail, giving me small clues here and there. The thick horde was still trudging behind the girl and me, giving chase as if never going to stop.

"There!" The girl cried out while we were moving as I followed her gaze. My eyes settled upon a multi-purpose vehicle; a Toyota Vellfire to be exact. Niqulos stood at the open door, calling for us while nervously looking at his surroundings; however his voice was faint and hard to catch unless you really concentrated on the surrounding sounds. Luckily for him and unluckily for the freshman and me, the horde was behind us. And they were hungry.

I felt like giving up. Seriously. I was staggering and out of breath and I thought, why must I live in this hellish, fucked up world? I collapsed onto the ground, panting and sweating like I've never did before. This was not me sprinting in a 100m or 200m sports day event; instead I had run at least a kilometer and a half at full speed. The freshman girl tugged at my hand, screaming something inaudible but I found it extremely hard to hear and breathe. My eyes transfixed upon the heavens and my breath heaved. I slowly closed my eyes and smiled, feeling at peace.

 **Well then that's the end of the second chapter. I'll update in around a week or more, thanks for reading!**


	3. The Borders of Manhattan

**Chapter 3  
Okay guys, this chapter will focus on raiding, surviving, and panicked chaos from other survivors. I hope you enjoy! Please give me feedback as I appreciate the fact that you all are reading my stories.**

Abigail Wolfe was having a bad day. Her parents forbade her from going to her best friend Renee's house, and now she was stuck inside a classroom with a bunch of kids her age; some she knew and some she did not. Screaming and sounds of eating ensued outside the oaken doors of her classroom, and the students huddled in one corner, afraid to face the horrors outside. The announcement itself was enough to chill Abby's nerves, and the chaotic noises outside served to aggravate her fear.

One of the students in her class, Terry, yelped as a puddle of blood flowed under the small gap in the door, and the teacher desperately tried her best to calm the young freshman boy, but panic was evident in her face as well.

 _THUD_

The classroom was silent; Abby looked from left to right at her friends to see each and every one of their reactions. The thud resounded about the room, but didn't seem to be anything serious, so Abby released an audible sigh. Just then, a boy named Jean screamed. He was a short boy, standing at five feet three, in comparison to Abby's five feet seven. Jean screamed for good reason – in utter pain.

There was a pale boy clad in the same uniform as all of them, looked like all of them, but there was a white bandage soaked with blood tightly wrapped about his wrist, and the cause of Jean's shriek was due to the boy gnawing at Jean's calf. Abby recognized the pale boy as Ronald, the class clown and part of the school football team. Ronald kept on biting on Jean's leg as if never going to stop; there were several kids hugging the walls and crying for their parents, several others staring at the scene in pure shock, and those who weren't doing the two things above were trying their hardest to separate Ronald from Jean's leg.

Abby was part of the group who stared at the ugly scene, her senses reeling in shock. Many knocks and thuds on the door snapped her back to reality and caused her to recover from her surprise, and she darted for the teacher's table, just before the oak door broke apart in splinters. At this, the teacher looked up from Ronald and Jean and watched in horror as students from freshmen to seniors pour in, their eyes milky and their skin paler than normal.

Ear-splitting screams could be heard both from the outside and the inside of the classroom. The teacher put up a valiant attempt to protect her students, even successfully taking down one of those zombies with one of the standard plastic chairs. However, her beginner's luck wore off real fast, and the next time she prepared to strike another of the zombies, the plastic chair broke due to the impact caused by bone and plastic, leaving her vulnerable to the teeth of the infected. To make things worse, two of the students she had just tried to protect; Jean and Ronald, they joined in the feast of Abby's teacher.

Tears welled up in Abby's eyes as she peeked at her classmates and teacher getting devoured. As one zombie approached her, she yelped and bolted out of the bloody classroom, weaving around roaming and feasting infected. As she was about to turn the corner she slammed into a lean figure that sent her stumbling onto the floor.

Feeling sure that she had sprained her back, she gazed up angrily at the figure, prepared to sock its jaw before it bit her, but instead a large hand was shoved in front of her.

"T-thanks, my name is –" Abby started, but she was cut off by the tall boy with a tag that read 'junior', which meant that he was a couple years older than her. "There's no time for introductions, man, follow me if you want to survive; I'm looking for my friends!"

The two of them broke off in a sprint, ignoring the pleas of those who were severely injured. Finally, after searching most of the school, they scurried out of the studying block to find the entrance empty. Spotting a Toyota Vellfire, Abby pointed at the car to notify the boy beside her, while a well-built boy stood in front of the car waving at them to hurry.

Abby proceeded to run to the car, but something dragged her down – the junior boy. He was gasping and obviously out of breath, and had staggered upon the ground, exhausted. "Get up!" Abby screamed as she tugged at the junior boy's arm furiously, but he had already closed his eyes in peace.

A tough arm with steel like fingers yanked Abby and the boy, pulling them the direction the zombies were staggering to. Instinctively she elbowed the person hauling them, causing his grip to loosen and a groan to escape his lips.

"Hey, that's not nice!" The big boy said in a British drawl. Abby mumbled her apologies as she entered the car, wondering whether her family and friends were alright. And she was also rather skeptical about the new people she had just met; a lanky boy who passed out easily, a tall and tough British lad, a half African and Caucasian, and an Asian guy who was even scrawnier than the lanky boy.

"Guys, can somebody please tell me what's going on?" Abby tried for a conversation with the older boys, hoping for a logical explanation about the plight they were facing. The British boy looked like he was about to say something, but seemed to be afraid that his words would scare the girl.

"Ask Gerard," the Asian boy said, pointing at the boy whom Abby had collided with earlier that day. He was drooling freely and Abby was disgusted at this. The half African and Caucasian boy drove the Toyota, maneuvering skillfully for someone who probably just got his driver's license, all the while listening to the people speaking behind. "I'd hate to break it up to you but what we're dealing with is a zombie apocalypse, miss. By the way I'd like to know your name, if we're all in this together."

Abby's nerves chilled at the idea of a zombie apocalypse, and she was sincerely worried about her family and friends now. Her fingers dug deep into the soft leather seat. "Err, hello?" The African-Caucasian boy spoke up again, driving Abby out of her reverie. "Right, my name is Abby Wolfe."

The African-Caucasian introduced himself as Ethan Tanner. Niqulos Tudline was the British boy's name, one that Abby had never heard before in her life. The Asian boy was revealed to be Gordon Ng, and the boy who had pulled her out of the zombie-infested school was Gerard Olive.

They were all in deep thought and the car was deathly silent as Ethan drove the miles away from that school, headed to an unknown destination, and trying to pick up clues from the car's radio. _"There have been many reports about a zombie apocalypse, and to be fair I believe it is utter nonsense. Come on, New Yorkers, zombies don't exist. This is probably some kind of rabies-strain that transmits its disease via biting. Please be warned that once bitten, you will never be yourself again. The average time taken for the infection to take over a human system is approximately eight hours. There is a shelter in Central Washington, with over fifty refugees as of now. The army and police are fighting hard to combat this disease. Once an infected person has locked on to you, he or she will never stop chasing, so be careful. That's all for now, thank you for listening to ."_ Ethan tuned down the volume of the radio as Abby stared outside the window. They passed schools, restaurants, libraries, houses; everywhere there were zombies and survivors were trying to fight them, some being overwhelmed in the process.

The drooling boy stirred, opening his eyes and staring at Abby with a confused expression. Abby decided that the boy looked a lot better without his nerdy glasses to overshadow his brown eyes. Overall, he wasn't bad looking – better than the boys among their group, but he needed to put on more weight.

"Wha-?" Gerard asked in confusion. "Who is she?" He pointed at Abby. Abby rolled her eyes and introduced herself as the freshman girl whom Gerard saved, jolting his memory. "Ah, I see." Gerard said. He then looked around the Toyota for something.

"Wait, where the fuck is my bat?" Gerard yelled a bit too loudly, causing Ethan to jump in the driver's seat, which in turn caused the Toyota to slam into a lamppost. The whole group groaned and Gordon, who was sleeping, awoke and saw the wrecked bumper of the car. "Jeez, Gerard, that was a bad move you did there," Niqulos tried to keep a calm face, but he was slightly irritated.

Abby rubbed her head at the bump she had gotten due to the car crash, sighing as the quintet got out of the Toyota. It looked to be in decent shape still, but Ethan, who seemed to have the most experience with cars, said that a carjack was needed to start it again. Gerard was groaning at the loss of his aluminum bat, while the rest of the group except for Abby and him geared up and retrieved their weapons from the car boot.

They were close to a mechanic's shop, according to Gordon, who always had a map stashed in his schoolbag. Gerard suggested that they split up; Gordon, Niqulos and Ethan to get the carjack and a few other various mechanic tools while himself and Abby scavenged for miscellaneous supplies. The rest of the group reluctantly nodded, and parted ways. Abby trudged alongside the skinny older boy beside her to a nearby supermarket, all tensed up as if expecting a zombie to suddenly lunge at them.

Gerard looked at her as if he knew what she had been thinking about and patted her on the shoulder. "It's alright; it's just the start of the apocalypse. Most of the zombies are out chasing the remaining survivors. Hopefully the section I'm looking for in the supermarket is still loaded with food and drink." Abby allowed herself to relax a little, and as the two got to the window of the supermarket, she looked to her side, expecting Gerard to be there, but he wasn't. Looking around, she spotted Gerard grasping a brick and running to the window, then hurling the brick as hard as he could on the window, causing a loud crash. With that being done, Abby gave him thumbs up, and walked inside the opening he had caused, but he pulled her in the opposite direction.

"Wait, I thought we were going through there?" Abby asked, a bit annoyed that Gerard did not tell her what he was doing. He gave her a rap on the back of her head. "That's just a distraction, man. You really think we should go into the supermarket without any notice about the zombies within?" He said in a hushed voice, to which Abby nodded, peeved at her own foolishness. True enough, as Gerard had said, four zombies staggered out of the hole in the glass window that Gerard had made, groaning and moaning. "Alright, let's go now," Gerard announced in a whisper and made his way into the supermarket's automatic door, while Abby followed. Puddles of blood were visible at parts of the supermarket, and while making their way to the 'section' Gerard had said, they passed the corpse of a supermarket worker; his entrails ripped out from his midsection and blood still leaked from him. His eyes were hollow and milky, and blood caked his teeth in a ghastly manner. As Gerard and Abby approached closer, the dead worker snarled and attempted to grab at them but instead clawed the air.

"Don't look at them," Gerard said to Abby as he loaded the schoolbag he had been carrying with various canned food, to which Abby asked why he was ransacking the canned goods. "Simply because, canned food does – wait what's your name again?" Impatiently Abby answered with her name, earning a nod from the skinny boy.

Gerard continued, "As I was saying, canned food won't ever spoil. Ever saw a zombie movie before? Usually it's the fresh food that goes bad." Abby understood, and helped him load the canned stuff inside his bag. She regretted not bringing her bag along her to help store some more goods, but was grateful that her phone was still with her, even if she didn't have mobile data to use the internet.

As for her opinion about the boys she was currently sticking together with – they seemed like nice folk. Gerard acted like he had experienced this sort of thing before – a zombie apocalypse, and that was rather unsettling to Abby. Ethan seemed a good driver though rather easily intimidated, and Niqulos and Gordon were fine.

As they prepared to leave the store with all the canned food, Abby accidentally kicked a stationary glass bottle, resulting in a harsh clink sound. Gerard looked alarmed, and tugged at Abby's wrist, pulling her to the side in case any nearby infected had heard the noise. Sure enough, at the store entrance, there were two zombies entering – an elderly man and a middle-aged woman, likely his daughter, both shambling about.

Gerard stepped back, dragging Abby with him as he hid against the wall. "Can they see?" Abby whispered, to which Gerard shrugged. "I don't know if they can see or smell. All I know is that they can hear damn well." Together they slowly inched the gap between the wall and the entrance, with the zombies all shambling. Once they had passed through the entrance, Abby released a sigh of relief, but suddenly a siren blared above her, almost making her eardrums burst. Gerard hauled her alongside him; though pulled down by the heavy schoolbag, he somehow managed to keep up with Abby's pace, though not for long it seemed, as his breathing was hitched.

Abby looked back, and sure enough – there was a crowd of zombies shambling after the two of them with arms outstretched, their pace neither fast nor slow. Cursing under her breath, she shot past Gerard who was already exerting his own stamina and strength, sweating and panting like a wild dog chased by a pack of wolves.

"Hey, don't leave me here!" Gerard sprinted after her but the combined weight of the canned goods and his school books weighed him down, while Abby was not carrying anything. Although they were putting quite a big distance between themselves and the infected, the Toyota was still a few hundred yards away.

Abby caught sight of the rest of their group pushing the car back to the road from the wrecked tree, while Ethan put the carjack to use, wedging the car tires out of the muddy earth near the road. She turned behind to find that Gerard was lagging behind, although luckily he hadn't passed out yet. She sighed and turned back for him, supporting him as they tried to shamble their way back to the vehicle.

The undead were catching up; not as slow as most people expected, and though many were distracted by all the screaming from the other residences and gunshots, plenty more surged forward and chasing their prey.

Finally they reached the Toyota; Abby and Gordon helping Gerard into the vehicle, which had successfully been wedged out of the mud and up and running. "About time you all got here," Niqulos said while Ethan floored the accelerator, darting past the chasing infected who moaned and continued shambling after them until they were out of sight and hearing.

Gordon rifled through Gerard's schoolbag and checked the contents; there were canned sardines, bottled water, soda cans and canned beans. All rather unappetizing but the group understood why he selected those items.

Realization flooded through Gerard as he realized two people were missing. "Guys, where are Bill and Chanel? I thought they were with us…?" Ethan glanced at him through the rearview mirror, and spoke up. "Bill and Chanel were separated from us when we were trying to hotwire this Toyota. I know that when we last saw Bill, he was alive. Chanel however… she had a large scratch on her arm from a zombie."

Gerard sighed. Abby continued staring outside of the window, seeing the city of Manhattan burst into chaos from a distance. She didn't know where they were headed, but hopefully it was safer than where they came from – the school.

"Oh yeah," Abby said. "Why do you still have schoolbooks in your bag? Shouldn't you take them out? They're rather heavy, you know." Gerard chuckled, replying, "Yeah, but until we find a library or something, I'm afraid this is still a form of entertainment." The car suddenly vibrated crazily, to the point that Abby felt sick enough to throw up.

"My apologies, guys, I think we just slammed into a zombie." Ethan said as he tried to swerve around another zombie.

 _BLAM_

The window that Abby had been looking at shattered and fell in dozens of shards of glass; one even cutting the sleeve of her uniform. Startled, she recoiled back, leaning against the leather seating as another shot fired.

 _BLAM_

"Who the fuck is shooting at us?!" Niqulos demanded as Gordon grabbed a cushion from the backseat, tossing it to Abby. "Thanks," Abby said as she hastily propped the cushion on the window, hoping that the cushion was thick enough to hold the bullet.

"Ethan, go faster!" Gerard yelled. "What the fuck do you think I'm doing?!" Ethan retorted, his foot already pressed hard on the accelerator and the speed meter was rising to its maximum soon. Suddenly a loud crack was heard as the Toyota drove across an unsteady bump.

"Oops, I accidentally knocked down a human," Ethan muttered guiltily under his breath as he gritted his teeth and plowed through the streets, eager to get out of the infested city of Manhattan.

Gerard looked outside of the rear window to see their attackers. There were two rednecks riding inside a police car; the one sitting in the shotgun seat was reloading a revolver with some of the spare ammunition in the car. Gritting his teeth, he crouched low down and Gordon and Niqulos proceeded to do the same. Abby was still focused on trying to hold the pillow to the window, causing Gerard to tell her to hide.

After a while, the shootings ceased and Ethan had managed to drive them far ahead, almost to the borders of Manhattan. Everyone was breathing a sigh of relief, except Gerard.

"Oi, Gerard, what's wrong? You seem a lil' out today…" Niqulos drawled when he saw a gaping hole in Gerard's shoulder whilst he winced. That must have hurt a ton. "Guys, Gerard's injured!"

Gerard stared uncomprehendingly at the wound in his shoulder, groaning as the pain intensified. He slowly felt his conscious slipping away from reality.

"Gordon, hurry up, check the car for any meds!" Ethan shouted, and that was the last time Gerard heard until he blacked out.

 **Aha guys I made Gerard the kind of guy who blacks out a lot. Oh well, who can blame him? He was out of breath in the second chapter and was shot in this one. What do you think about the freshman girl I added, Abby Wolfe? Review!**


	4. Emotion

**Sorry for the late update, guys. I hope this chapter will be sufficient enough for you, and I berate myself for trying to develop Gerard's character's affection for someone special.**

My eyes struggle to open. Tendrils of sharp pain throb about in the hole in my shoulder, and I wince inwardly. I can't hear much of my surrounding, and I can feel the seeping warmth of the blood that pours out of the hole in my shoulder like a dam. Damn. My whole body aches so badly; I feel like a vulnerable pre-schooler again.

I force my eyes to snap wide open. Though blurry, I still can make out the shapes around me. Squinting around for my glasses, I find them resting on top of a table on my right. Putting them on sharpened the focus of my vision. I blinked once, and took notice of my surroundings. I was in a room with walls painted light grey. Sounds of television could be heard downstairs, and I would've believed that the zombie apocalypse was a dream, but the gaping hole in my shoulder reminded me otherwise.

I stared at my wound only to find that it was wrapped tightly by a white rag soaked with my own blood. I let out a deep sigh, having trouble standing up while clutching the edge of the bed to support myself. Taking a few steps to the door, I swung it open slowly, carefully, to find that I was on the second floor of the house I was in. The second floor was deserted, lights all turned off, while dim lights flashed downstairs. Slowly, and using the rails of the staircase to steady myself, I began the awfully painful descent down.

Before I reached the foot of the stairs, I ran into the freshman girl – what was her name again? Abby, Abigail Wolfe. She saw me and blushed and continued going upstairs. I shrugged, not understanding why, and I continued to the living room. Gordon, Niqulos and Ethan were huddled up on the couch watching some television, all tensed up while the news blared about the zombie apocalypse. Ethan noticed me walking by and said, "Did you pass Abby yet?"

I stared at him with a confused expression. "Yeah, why?"

The three of them snickered in unison. "She ah, had to take care of your wound." Niqulos smirked. Shaking my head at their childish behavior, I plopped myself down on the couch beside Gordon, who was staring transfixed at the television.

 _" –_ _None of us, and I repeat, none of us have seen such a thing transpire in the United States of America in all our lives. All police and ambulance lines are busy, so please refrain from calling them; they have their hands full with these strange undead monsters. Civilians are starting to call them 'zombies', and I shudder to think what these 'zombies' could do to our nation. Reports from all other states of America have given us an estimate about the death rate in our population; roughly forty-five percent."_

"Forty-five percent, so fast?" Gordon muttered in surprise under his breath.

"By the way, guys, where are we?" I asked.

"Oh, some house near the edge of Manhattan. Those god damn military bastards wouldn't let us out; they say they want to quarantine the whole city." Niqulos spoke whilst staring at the television.

 _" –_ _It seems that the only way to take down these – 'zombies' – is to either remove the head, by decapitation what not, or destroying the brain. Scientists have gotten ahold of one of the undead and we have discovered that no matter how many wounds the infected have received from bites and bullets, a part of the brain keeps going on – the brain stem. These enable the infected to perform primary and basic functions – move and bite. Lord help us if this virus mutates, and good luck to you all."_

Gordon switched off the television as we leaned back on the couches, feeling the first dredges of fear as the situation began to sink in. Abby broke our sudden reverie, saying that she would look for some supplies at the back. I jammed my hands into my pockets and said I needed some fresh air, and painfully climbed up the stairs, refusing offers from my friends to aid me. I stepped into the well-maintained balcony; the floor warm under my feet from the summer temperature and the night air cooling, caressing my face. I looked around the area we were in, whilst folding my hands across the railing.

Gunfire rang across the whole of Manhattan, and from a distance, several plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the distant horizon. Sirens wailed as the police and ambulance vehicles did their very best to combat the pandemic. Assorted vehicles caught my eye as they zoomed past the street we were in; pursued by hordes of undead.

Scrambling around the drawers of the room I was in, I shoved a bottle of heavy painkillers into my pocket, and casually popped one into my mouth, slightly recoiling at the bitter taste but feeling the sharp pain jabbing my midsection fade away. I lied down on the bed and my mind flowed freely.

I'll admit, this feeling in my gut hurt more than anything else I had ever experienced, even worse than when my friends pressured me to talk to this girl at school; her name was Erin. She was a lovely, slim woman one year younger than me, and a person that just joined the school in her second year of high school. Standing at five feet, eight inches, she had a friendly, quiet personality that could just look at someone and make that person smile with her own smile.

Erin caught my eye two weeks ago, when I was buying a drink in the canteen, exhausted from sports and basketball. I grabbed the drink and made my way to my friends when I passed her. You know how sometimes in life you just make eye contact with someone and you have the feeling that sparks are slowly enveloping you? Yeah, this was just like that. I couldn't stop thinking about her after that, and started noticing her in the hallways, trying to nod or smile at her whenever I passed. I can imagine how I looked; a tall, skinny boy with crooked teeth and nerdy glasses smiling tight-lipped with a pale expression.

One week ago, before the zombie outbreak started, I made a move and texted her, hoping for a reply. We became friends, but I never truly understood how girls work. One moment they reply as fast as lightning, the other they leave your message hanging and cause you to go berserk whilst waiting for a reply. I realized I had not checked with her to see if she was alright.

 _"Hey. Everything cool?"_

I laid on the pillow as a feverish feeling hit me, numbed slightly by the painkiller but it wasn't going to last long. The stomach wound hurt and felt like I was tearing apart internally. I heard that when you were injured and in deep pain, you would undergo fevers.

My phone vibrated as if in a frenzy on the table beside the bed, and I picked it up to read the text reply.

 _"OMG, dead people are alive, and yeah, I'm not bit, if that's what you were asking."_

My lips formed into a grin as I hastily typed back another message.

 _"Where r u now?"_

My stomach was growling both from the pain and hunger, so I laid my phone down on the bed and went down to the kitchens to get a quick snack. Everyone was in the living room, either resting or debating what to do now. Unnoticed, I merely brewed coffee and opened a cup of instant noodles, pouring steaming hot water into the cup and adding flavoring. Making my way to the living room, I took a seat on one of the vacant couches and sighed.

" – Jesus, you can't be serious!" Niqulos was staring at Gordon with a bewildered expression.

Gordon protested, "But seriously, if we try to look for our families now, we'd go berserk!" Ethan merely watched the heated exchange, not budging from his seat nor saying anything. However, the two of them arguing turned toward me.

"Gerard, what do you think, should we look for our families or not?" Niqulos faced me with a determined expression on his face, Gordon turning to face me as well with the same face plastered on. I shrugged, saying, "I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna go look for Erin."

Ethan sighed again; after hearing me talk about her lots of times, he probably got sick of it already. Meanwhile, Abby inquired who Erin was. So I explained to her, as the night ticked on, and the screaming and gunfire continued outside. She was a good listener, and as the rest of our group dozed off, my description of Erin came to an end.

"I… I see. So you like this girl, right?" Abby finally spoke up, a serene expression set upon her face, like she had experienced the way I felt now. I nodded, hesitant about telling someone I barely even _knew_ my secret only my best friends had known. Oh well, I guess everything changes after something major like the zombie outbreak.

Truth to be told, I never really expected a zombie outbreak to occur at such a time like this. I'd always have dreams about zombies and how ferocious they pounded at doors to get to me, and sometimes in classes that were too boring, I'd just look outside the window and wonder how it would feel to live in such a world.

Now I live in such a world.

If the apocalypse did not come, I'd be lying on my bed, about to drift off, chatting with friends and waiting for _her_ reply. Probably even wish I could play basketball better. Never thought life would change suddenly for the worse.

A loud doorbell ring emanating from the front door broke my reverie, and jolted the rest of the group awake from their rest. Gordon immediately dropped quietly on the floor, motioning to us to keep silent and not to open the door, lest there be infected or aggressive survivors out in the night. After all, every curtain was shut and every light was off. Why would someone ring a doorbell? Unless –

"Guys," I hissed urgently. "That asshole who rang our doorbell is probably trying to run away from the zombies and attract the infected to our location!" Niqulos nodded, and trudged upstairs – to his room, I presumed. I followed Niqulos whilst Abby, Ethan and Gordon stood put. Trying my best to keep my footfalls silent, I sped up the stairs and burst into my room, feeling the effect of the painkillers wear off.

I guess time passes fast sometimes when you're deep in thought. The start of a new day shone through the translucent curtains that shaded my room from sunlight. I grabbed some more painkillers from the drawers, snatched up my phone and went downstairs again.

When I had reached the foot of the staircase, sounds of pounding could be heard from the front door, and Ethan, Gordon and Abby were armed with whatever weapons they could scavenge from the kitchens and storerooms. Niqulos came downstairs holding a fencing blade and lugging a rucksack, earning stares of surprise from each and every one of us. He noticed us looking at his blade and said that he found it in one of the rooms upstairs.

"Is there a back door?" I asked. Gordon pointed to the kitchen, and we made our way to the kitchen. Suddenly, one gnarly hand tore through the wooden door to our house, shocking all of us. Gordon motioned for us to go whilst brandishing a cleaver and heading to the wooden door.

"What the hell are you doing? Gordon!" Niqulos yelled at him while we opened the back door. Gordon had pushed some couches and tables to block the door while hacking at the hands of the zombies that tore through the wood. I honestly had no idea whatever the hell Gordon was doing, but I wanted to live. I saw that one of the members of our group had propped my metal bat to bar the door in case anything – dead or living – tried to make their way into the house. Well, so much for that idea. I took the bat and followed my friends out of the house.

"Come on, you bastards! Come eat me you sick fucks; I've got plenty of flesh and bone here. COME ON!"

I stuffed some painkillers in my mouth and felt numbness and nausea again, and a slight dizziness. All of us excluding Gordon and Niqulos made our way to the car we had come here in, only to find it gone.

"What now?" Ethan asked, holding a tennis racket and clenching his teeth. Most of the infected had been drawn toward the commotion at the front door of the house but several of them were still roaming around. I swung my aluminum bat at the nearest zombie; to my surprise I missed, and only managed to break one of its arms. It snarled and came for me, but a swing from Ethan's racket silenced it. Gordon was still swearing and ranting at the zombies while Niqulos joined him, determined not to leave him there alone.

A notification buzzed my phone in my pocket, and I checked it. It read that Niqulos and Gordon would catch up to us after they had cleansed this house. Gordon also told us not to worry if they died, and that if they died, they died for us. Niqulos told us to meet at the school, and not to reply until we had reached there.

I honestly had no idea why we had to go back to Swift's International again, but I decided to respect my friends' wishes, and I told Ethan and Abby to follow me. Looking at the front door, it was splintered and cracked and zombies were lining up to get inside, reminding me of a crowded cafeteria. Few infected noticed our presence and we shoved aside those who approached us. The ranting coming from the house we had left ceased and we hastily made our way around the suburban neighborhood Ethan had drove us to whilst finding a place to rest and scavenge. Fortunately for us, Abby had my bag slung over her shoulder, which was filled with enough food to last us for a few days.

Ethan had just smacked aside a zombie with his racket and we spotted a sweet ride out of this place. It was a rusted van with the license plate removed and the car logo slashed. The vehicle was colored a deep maroon with blotches of navy blue paint splattered on the side of the car. There were bloody handprints on the windows and plenty of fingerprints as well. The window was partially winded down and there was a key lodged in the keyhole.

All of a sudden, I crumpled down onto the ground and screamed in agony; the hole in my stomach hurt like it was on fire, and I couldn't think or see straight. The only thing I could focus on was the immense pain enveloping my abdomen, and I could barely feel two pairs of hands haul me roughly and toss me on a leather backseat. My body ached all over.

Seconds passed. Minutes, even. The pain had dimmed from earlier but some effects were still lingering. I groaned and shoved the several strands of hair that covered my forehead to the side. We were all in a car; Ethan was driving and Abby was sitting shotgun. Suburban homes, convenience stores and shopping centers we passed, and occasionally we would go over a bump that shook the van.

The van's backseat smelled like someone had threw up all over it; the smell was horrid and putrid, and caused me to gag a little. The owner of the van had plenty of alcohol bottles lying on the backseat, causing me to think that he was a drunkard who threw up a lot.

I needed to do something to distract myself from the aching wound in my abdomen. Whipping out my phone, I checked it to find one notification. Feeling a little bit of elation at the prospect of a possible reply from Erin, I clicked on the chat and saw that there was a message not from Erin, but from Juan.

 _"Dude, wtf, you were right! There's a damn zombie apocalypse out there man. Where are you guys?"_

Sitting upright and gasping as another sudden jolt of pain stabbed my gut, I hastily typed a reply to Juan.

 _"Yeah, man, Ethan, some girl and I are headed for the school. Is Sam Yee with you?"_

 _"Yeah, he is. Can't find Alideen though. What about Niqulos and Gordon?"_

 _"They're taking a detour. Idk if they'll survive or not. They were distracting a horde whilst we escaped a house. And dude, BTW, Alideen's dead. I saw his corpse."_

 _"Shit, that's bad. Was it in chemistry class? Cuz I remember he was snoozing. Hope Niqulos and Gordon can make it."_

 _"What about you? Where r u now?"_

 _"Sam and I are holed up in the canteen with a bunch of sophomores and seniors. There's plenty of food and water here but there's a bunch of zombies trying to push their way in thru the barricade we've made."_

A loud bang interrupted my texting abruptly, and Ethan swerved as hard as he could opposite the direction of the shooting. Wobbling about and trying to regain my balance, I continued typing a text to Juan.

 _"C u there, dude, we're under fire now."_

 _"Ok, ciao. It's gonna be a rough night without any pillows or mattresses in the canteen."_

I clicked off my phone and focused on the road ahead; Abby already drifting off to sleep while Ethan dutifully navigating through the narrow road to Swift's International.

I sighed and leaned back on the cracked leather seat. This was going to be a long night.

 **Review please!**


	5. Beginning World's End

**Z-Day 1 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Z-Day 1.5 in New York, USA**

"What the fuck?!" A voice yelled in the computer lab of Apek Private School. Cursing was heard violently and lots of kicking noises resounded.

"Are you seriously telling me that Mia Khalifa's dead body was found just yesterday full of holes that looked like bites?! Come on, man, what the fuck?! Where's our god damn porn entertainment now, huh?" Jerry Lin, a sixteen year-old sophomore in Apek Private School, exclaimed over his Samsung phone. "What? A zombie apocalypse? Are you serious? Don't bloody joke around, Sam! Just because you're studying in Swift's International in New York doesn't give you the right to spout bullshit, you sucker! Eh, if really got zombie apocalypse ah, you'd be dead bro," Jerry laughed stupidly, and continued, "Besides, don't you think if there was a zombie apocalypse in the US, Malaysia also got?"

Loud footsteps echoed in the narrow corridor toward the computer lab, and Jerry took heed of it. "Eh, I'll listen to all your bullshit stories later, right now Mr. Sohai* (check below for reference) is coming, I need to hide man. You wishing me good luck for exams or what? Again with the zombie shit! Aiya, later talk lah." Jerry switched off his phone and shook his head for Sam Yee, his friend from New York. He thought the idea of a zombie story was bogus, and hid as quietly as possible, so as not to alert the school caretaker of his presence. Accepting a dare from his crush Tiara Tai, and being a complete idiot to take it, Jerry snuck into the school's computer lab and slept there for a night, telling his parents he was studying at his friend Chong's house.

The caretaker's keycard tapped on the card verification panel, leaving the door free to open. The caretaker, Mr Sohai, as Jerry called him, limped inside and groaned in pain, stumbling on the floor. Two chunks of his leg was missing, and looked to be from a wild tiger bite or something. Jerry thought that the idea of a tiger attacking the caretaker strange, and remembered Sam Yee's strange warning about a zombie apocalypse, dismissing it immediately as zombies did not exist, and instead were fictional characters, myths, more like it.

The caretaker passed out suddenly, causing Jerry to think that he passed out due to the blood loss and pain. He sent a message and a photo to Tiara featuring his 'amazing' accomplishment of staying the night in the school. Truth to be told, staying the night in the school was a lot harder due to the eerie noises and a few screams from outside, and the lack of food and water excluding bars of chocolate and water bottles.

The figure lying in front of the door of the computer lab suddenly jerked upward, as if propelled by some unknown forces. It reminded Gerry of a movie he watched recently, something about humans rising from the dead. Wait, only zombies rise from the dead, thought Jerry, it can't be a zombie outbreak, and Sam Yee was probably just spouting a bunch of bullshit. Sam Yee was Jerry's best friend since primary school, and left to the USA due to his father, a business executive who had business to do in the USA.

Sniffing the air, the caretaker's eyes glazed around the computer lab. Jerry noticed that the caretaker's eyes were milky white, where they were normally jet black, he also noticed that there was foam on the man's mouth. "Looks like Sam Yee was right," Jerry muttered under his breath, cursing in mandarin slightly. When he saw that the zombie caretaker had his attention toward the windows, he made a break for it, running to the door of the computer lab and pushing it, expecting it to swing effortlessly, but instead it was shut. Remembering that the computer lab's door needed the keycard to open, Jerry cursed once more, as he noticed the zombie's attention now on him.

The infected caretaker made bloating, gargling noises with foam dripping down its mouth, and made a wild lunge of Jerry, who sidestepped. Jerry was a taekwondo competitor who represented the state, and in no way was he going to lose this fight with the zombie. Kicking the zombie square on the neck area, he sighed in satisfaction with the cracking of the zombie's collarbone and let out a small laugh as he saw Mr Sohai's head dangle loosely. It ceased to bite and the body dropped like a dead mouse on the floor, twitching slightly. The keycard was inside Mr Sohai's shirt pocket, and as Jerry reached for it, the motionless caretaker suddenly jerked up once more and headbutted his hand, causing Jerry to drop on the floor in pain.

"Motherfucker, I'm gonna kick your head so hard you'll die!" Jerry screamed in rage and stomped on Mr Sohai's head with his sneakers, stomping repeatedly until the infected stopped moving completely. Breathing heavily in gulps of air, Jerry grabbed the bloodied keycard and walked to the door of the computer lab, adrenaline fading away. His muscles ached from sudden and vigorous exercise without warming up, and a sharp pain continued throbbing his wrist. Looking down at his wrist, his eyes widened as he saw a nugget-sized wound on his wrist. It was rather deep, though the veins and the arteries weren't torn. Realization dawning upon Jerry, he shook his head and moaned, burying his face in his hands, sobbing violently.

"I don't wanna become a fucking zombie!" He screamed to himself as his phone shook twice suddenly. There were two messages to him, one from Sam Yee and one from Tiara.

 _"Hey man, you know, some asshole in the canteen was infected and if not for my friend, more would have been infected. That sucker turned in less than an hour, man."_

 _"You actually did that thing? Wah, that's not bad. See you later in class? ;)"_

Jerry yelled angrily at the prospect of not being able to meet his best friend again, and not being able to further the relationship between him and Tiara.

 **Z-Day 2 In New York, USA**

"Tch." I muttered in pain as Abby undressed my bandage and applied some medication on it. "Ow, ow, ow!" I cursed under my breath. We were using up the last bit of medicine we had after taking off from that house just a few hours ago. Dawn was breaking the dark sky and rays of sun shined over the smoky plumes of New York City's buildings. I honestly wonder what the hell happened to Gordon and Niqulos; they said they'd call or text me or something when they escaped, but so far there had been no sign of any notification from them.

"How much longer?" Abby asked Ethan, to which he replied, "Not far. We've been driving for almost three hours now, and although we've had to avoid several heavy traffic due to the quarantine stuff, we're almost there. I estimate maybe five minutes."

I nodded, and found myself agreeing with him. I recognized some of the buildings nearby our school, and though my abdomen hurt, there was something to look forward to for once. Juan and Sam were probably sleeping in the comfort of the school now while we were driving, and if we hadn't found that house when we needed to, we would've been screwed. Ethan would be bone tired and we would not be able to travel long distances.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Ethan desperately hit the steering wheel of the car. The van slowed down rapidly and skidded to a stop, right in the middle of an empty street. Abby lost balance on her seat and almost flew out had I not grabbed her. There were no survivors; no infected to be seen on the street we were on. However, there were lots of dead bodies piled up, mostly civilian and one or two military or police; it was hard to tell between the two from the blurry and dusted window.

"Well, guys, looks like we're in for a walk." Ethan grumbled as he got out of the car, Abby and I following his action. It was unnerving to walk again after a long few hours of sitting, and it was Abby 's turn to steady myself when I wobbled due to the pain in my stomach and the tingling feeling of not walking. My back hurt too. After checking out the car for a bit, Ethan declared it completely out of gas. That asshole who got the car we drove from to school had extra gas in the car boot.

Suddenly I had an idea. Equipped with only a tennis racket for Ethan and an aluminum bat for myself; Abby even without a weapon, we needed firearms to combat against hostile survivors and the infected. And so I presented my insanely risky idea to my friends. "Are you mad? Searching those bodies? What if some of them are infected?" Abby exclaimed, her eyebrow raised. She actually did look kind of cute when she did that, so I smiled slightly. "Why're you smiling? Is there something on my face?" Abby demanded, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Nah, it's just that Gerard's a retard when cute girls look at him," Ethan butted in, which was unusual. I felt that Ethan seemed to have had developed feelings for her over the past night, and made a mental note to myself to be his wingman in the future, whether society returns or not.

"As I was saying," I cleared my throat, "Ethan and I will bash in their heads two more times with our weapons, and you will scavenge them. Leave out wallets and what not, currency is useless in a zombie outbreak." Abby sighed, signaling that she probably found our plan stupid or something, but reluctantly agreed to search the bodies. And so we got to work, three living beings on a deserted street filled with the dead.

The more Ethan and I bashed in, the more I felt the revolting urge to throw up; my abdomen injury did not help, either. In fact, my injury was probably the primary cause for my nauseous feeling. After bashing in around a dozen heads of zombies, I found no strength to carry on hitting the infected and making sure that they were dead. Ethan took notice of it as well but continued bashing, even harder than before. Abby found several water bottles; some filled halfway, some filled to the brim while some empty. There were makeshift bandages and weapons clutched tightly in the hands of the dead, but it was hard to pry their fingers to get to the supplies we needed. After about twenty minutes, all three of us took a break, and we inspected Abby's findings.

"So, a standard policeman's pistol, whatever the name is, with only two bullets in it, in decent shape, and two more extra bullets found in the pouch of the policeman; this one's a good find. Six water bottles; two full and four half drunk. A police baton with a lot of blood on it and it's rather dented - nah, too dangerous to use this, next one? Oh, a military issue combat knife with a leather sheath; this one should be used by you, Abby."

"You sure about that, Olive? I don't know how to use a weapon, or even a knife. Hell, I barely know how to gut a fish."

I cleared my throat once again in irritation. "Don't call me Olive, man, and yeah, just use it for self-defense, Abby."

"Alright boss."

I groaned. "Don't give me any fancy nicknames."

Snarls coming from the way Ethan drove us from resounded behind us, echoing between the closely-knit buildings of Manhattan, sending various chills up my spine. Ethan and Abby heard them as well and we hurriedly scurried into the alleyway with our belongings. I cursed as I accidentally slammed my shoulder violently onto the old brick walls, causing a little bit of noise, but not enough to alert the infected that we were in the alleyway. Even at school, I wasn't really known for my stamina endurance level, and the added weight of the aluminium bat and my stomach wound didn't help one bit. If my memory was correct, we were within twenty to thirty minutes of walking distance from Swift's International.

I realized that I couldn't match Abby's and Ethan's pace, but I still tried to press on, although sweat was beading down my forehead like a flowing cascade of water and my breathing was ragged. Even though they weren't exactly running, and we were all brisk-walking, it still took a toll to my exhaustion. I cursed yet against as my leg hit an empty wine bottle; _this_ time making a loud clinking noise. And _this_ time did Abby and Ethan turn behind to see how much farther they were ahead than me. Moaning and groaning of the zombies closed in on us, and we were panicking.

"Fuck, what now?" Abby whispered frantically. Ethan climbed on top of a three-foot tall dumpster, pointing at a rusted steel ladder leading to the rooftops of the building we were beside. Abby was first to climb as the infected blocked the two escape routes of the alleyway. I looked around, feeling like shit even though the fear and adrenaline caused by the infected presence erased the pain in my abdomen. Ethan was next to go, but my feet felt stuck to the ground. He noticed this, and pulled me up the dumpster, and then climbed. This jolted me back to my senses and I followed behind him, feeling my limbs ache slightly with each climb. The adrenaline was slowly fading away now, and the pain in my abdomen was returning, multiplying, even.

The infected were milling over the dumpster now, some trying and able to climb, some crawling, some stumbling, but _probably_ wouldn't be able to follow us. That's what I felt then at least. But, oh boy, I was wrong. They were climbing over each other, and though they probably couldn't see us, their keen senses of smell and hearing had already given our location away, and their flailing hands might slowly just grab onto the iron rungs of the ladder.

I had a sudden urge to whip out the pistol Abby found on one of the bodies to shoot at some of the infected, but held back the temptation. And yes, although adrenaline proved to be a suitable painkiller to my aching wound; fatigue and trauma was not dulled by the adrenaline rush. My legs felt like the jelly I used to apply onto my bread during breakfast, and sure enough, I lost my footing slightly; slipping on the rusted iron rung of the ladder. The steel-like grip of an unknown infected; a long, sinewy limb with its fingers closed on my ankle, threatened to drag me down to be devoured. I cried out in pain and frustration; concentrating to keep my balance on the iron rung with one leg and yanking the other with all my energy.

Surely Abby and Ethan must've heard my grunts of effort, why weren't they helping yet? It seemed like I was going to be stuck here for all eternity - that was if I could maintain the effort to hold myself aloft whilst dozens of rotting infected milled underneath me, almost begging for me to fall down the ladder. And I sure as hell didn't want to black out, or fall again. Suddenly, the leathery texture of a rope slapped my face rather painfully.

"Gerard, grab onto this! We'll pull you up!" Abby cried, her hands grabbing the rope tightly as it dangled in front of me. I seized the rope, wincing as the rope strands threatened to cut into my bare skin. To ensure I didn't fall down if Abby and Ethan didn't manage to pull me up, I used one hand to hold the rope and the other to cling onto the iron rung. The zombie that caught hold of my foot - a tall and young skinny dude - didn't seem to let go, but as my friends pulled me up, the zombie's grip weakened and finally, I broke free of his clutches! Well, I lost my shoe, but I'd keep my life today. Or maybe at least for five more minutes.

I was so exhausted I didn't even realize when Ethan and Abby hoisted me up. I collapsed onto the sweet, strangely comforting coolness of the rooftop floor even though it was just so dirty while the sun hovered over us, glaring down at us from above.

"Thanks, guys," I nodded with gratitude at my two companions who had been with me since the day of the infection.

Abby was frantic with guilt, apologizing that she hadn't pulled me up earlier, while Ethan nodded in return, telling me not to mention it. The three of us decided we needed a short break from the dangers of Manhattan, and so we put our heads on our backpacks and scrounged our supplies for food. We hadn't eaten since the day before; Abby and I slept in the car as we had stayed up the night before, whilst Ethan was driving, and so hadn't had time to stuff food in his mouth.

Although grateful we had canned goods - sardines, mackerels, beans - and bottles of water, I missed my mom's cooking; or the corner shop my buddies and I would hang out at, spotting the occasional pretty girl that walked along by; marveling at the random busker who performed at the roadside. The world I knew before this shit happened was all gone. And although I couldn't do anything about it, Erin came into my mind once again. She hadn't responded since the day of the outbreak, giving me several disturbing ideas and theories why.

Yeah, I kinda realized I over-analyzed pretty much almost anything involving girls and relationships, blah blah blah. I knew I didn't love Erin; not yet at least, but I just couldn't get her off my mind. I was one of those obsessed kids you'd see on television; gazing at this sweet girl with dreamy eyes and a goofy smile. The only piece missing was that I couldn't see her. And it really bugs me that I still hadn't talked to her. What a chump, right?

The next thing I thought about was Niqulos and Gordon; they too had not responded since yesterday when our group split up. I was genuinely confused as to why they stayed there to fight the infected, but then suddenly a sharp sensation of pain jumbled my thoughts. Juan and Sam... I hoped they were at the school canteen, and I hoped Erin would be there, safe and sound. And of course, I hoped Erin was still single.

I didn't realize I was thinking so much about this girl until the front of a shotgun was pointed at my face. I grimaced in sudden shock and fear and looked up and saw a man in his late fifties wielding a pump shotgun with a little girl around ten clinging onto the side of his pants. He noticed the look in my face and lifted the barrel up and away from my face.

"Howdy, folks. Sorry about pointing my gun at your friend over there. You just can't be sure who's what now in this fucked up world. Mind tellin' me what y'all are doin' up here on top of my shop?" The old guy said in a rough Southern accent, with an apologetic tone.

The first signs of life we'd seen in the last twelve hours was on top of a Manhattan rooftop while zombies still tried to climb up, attracted by the scent of living flesh above.


End file.
